Welcome Back to Paper Mill Playhouse's 80Th
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WELCOME FROM THE PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR elcome back to Paper Mill Playhouse’s 80th anniversary season and to our groovy, world- Wpremiere production of My Very Own British Invasion! Any fan of popular music is sure to enjoy this nostalgic and energetic trip down memory lane as told through the eyes of Peter Noone, who struck fame at age fifteen as the lead singer for Herman’s Hermits. Lovingly crafted by Tony-nominated book writer Rick Elice ( Jersey Boys, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Cher Show) and Tony winner Jerry Mitchell (Half Time, Kinky Boots, Pretty Woman), who directs and choreographs, this blockbuster retrospective features a rarely heard story, a Paper Mill Playhouse received the 2016 song list jam-packed with favorites, and a cast of the Regional Theatre Tony Award. absolute best actors and musicians of Broadway. Paper Mill recently announced the appointment of our new Managing Director, Michael Stotts, after a nationwide search, and he officially joins the staff as of the opening night of this production. Friends of the New Jersey theatrical community may remember Mike from his previous engagements in leadership roles with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and George Street Playhouse. He comes to Paper Mill after serving thirteen years at Hartford Stage in Connecticut, where some of his notable projects included the new musicals Anastasia and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, which both transferred to Broadway. Mike is a dedicated, passionate, and well-respected arts administrator who brings an incredible skill set to our organization. As Paper Mill prepares for our next phase of growth, he is exactly the coleader I was hoping to find, and we all could not be more thrilled to welcome him back to the Garden State. Please say hello and introduce yourself when you see him around the theater. I would like to draw your attention to our now officially named Ferolito Family Auditorium (there’s a shiny new sign on the wall in the lobby). Over the summer we completed a long-overdue complete renovation of the theater, thanks to the generosity of trustee Carolyn Ferolito, including seats, carpeting, millwork, and technical upgrades. You, too, can add your own name to our legacy by dedicating one of these beautiful new seats with a personalized plaque. It’s a unique way to honor a loved one, commemorate a special occasion, give a distinctive gift, or simply pay tribute to your years of enjoyment at Paper Mill Playhouse. Please take a brochure in the lobby or visit PaperMill.org/grabaseat. And speaking of legacy, we also invite you to join the Paper Mill Playhouse Ovation Society by including Paper Mill in your estate plans. We have some exciting casting and creative news shaping up for the final two productions of our 2018–2019 season, so stay tuned. Up next is Benny & Joon, an adventurous, tuneful musical tackling complex and poignant issues, receiving its East Coast premiere here. And we close the 80th anniversary season with our own 25th anniversary revival of the eye-poppingly magical fairy tale Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, directed by yours truly. I cannot wait, and I hope you join us! Our production of My Very Own British Invasion is generously supported by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co.—please join me in thanking them along with our ongoing season sponsor, Investors Bank, and our new education and outreach sponsor, The Goren Family and Harmony Helper. And now enjoy this blast back to the Swinging Sixties! I promise you’re in for “something good.” Mark S. Hoebee Producing Artistic Director PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE 9 PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE 13 AUTHOR’S NOTE y late husband, the wonderful actor Roger Rees, used to tell me of his life as a “bright, young Mthing” in London in the mid-60s, scrambling to be part of something, anything; to be accepted, celebrated, loved. After hours, he and his chums would invariably hang out at a club on Kingly Street called the Bag O’ Nails. It wasn’t the food and drink that brought them, or the lure of the terrific house band. It was the chance to hear John Lennon or Lulu or Mick Jagger or Freddie Mercury hop on stage and introduce their latest songs. Because the Bag O’ Nails was a kind of karaoke bar for superstars, before they were household names. Just kids, showing their wares to other kids while they waited to become famous. It was the dawn of the era we Americans called the British Invasion. Music was their arsenal, and this time, the Brits were winning the war. And the Center of Rock ’n’ Roll Operations was the Bag O’ Nails. Imagine my surprise, decades later, when Paper Mill hero Jerry Mitchell asked me to join him and Peter Noone to talk about Peter’s experiences in the ’60s, at that very club! But how to make a show about an event as rangy and enormous as the British Invasion? “Well, that’s your job,” they said to me, throwing down the challenge. The great musical theater writers, Arthur Laurents, Peter Stone, Terrence McNally, Lin-Manuel Miranda, teach us that it all starts with what the Brits might call “a ripping yarn”—good stories with compelling characters that make us care about them. Fortunately, in addition to the challenge, I was handed such a yarn and characters—and from these, I’ve tried to fashion a sort of Helen of Troy fable, an intimate war story built around that most useful shape of theatrical geometry, the love triangle. Our three points in conflict are “the bad boy”—rude, self-infatuated, and bursting with raw talent; “the nice boy”—silly, self-effacing, and primed for his first love affair; and “the English rose”—the irresistible young lady, spreading her wings and flying straight into the sun. Hers is the face that launches one boy’s British Invasion—but rock ’n’ roll underscores each breathless attack, sending these preternaturally talented teenagers into beds and across oceans in hot pursuit, bent on rescue, sacrifice, destruction. Let the music take you back. And let it bring you home. Because the story that Jerry, Peter, our music director Lon Hoyt, and our super-talented cast of “bright, young things” will play out before you will remind you, I hope, of the first time you fell in love—how glorious it was, how beautiful, and sometimes, how painful. Like holding on tight to a bag of nails. —Rick Elice PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE 15 16 PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE RECIPIENT OF THE REGIONAL THEATRE TONY AWARD® A not-for-profit organization under the direction of MARK S. HOEBEE MICHAEL STOTTS Producing Artistic Director Managing Director presents MY VERY OWN BRITISH INVASION Book by RICK ELICE Based on an idea by PETER NOONE Starring (in alphabetical order) JONNY AMIES BRYAN FENKART ERIKA OLSON KYLE TAYLOR PARKER CONOR RYAN JOHN SANDERS DANIEL STEWART SHERMAN Scenic Design Costume Design Lighting Design DAVID ROCKWELL GREGG BARNES KENNETH POSNER Sound Design Projection Design Hair & Wig Design ANDREW KEISTER ANDREW LAZAROW JOSH MARQUETTE Orchestrations Production Stage Manager FRANCISCO CENTENO, CLINT DE GANON, TRIPP PHILLIPS LON HOYT, JOHN PUTNAM Casting UK Casting Press Representative TELSEY + COMPANY JILL GREEN CASTING RICHARD HILLMAN PATRICK GOODWIN, CSA PUBLIC RELATIONS Music Supervision & Arrangements LON HOYT Directed and Choreographed by JERRY MITCHELL MAJOR SUPPORT MAJOR SPONSOR The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation Produced in association with HAL LUFTIG, CRAIG HAFFNER/SHERRY WRIGHT, RODNEY RIGBY, and YASUHIRO KAWANA PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE 17 THE CAST (in order of appearance) Peter ..........................................................................................................................JONNY AMIES Geno .........................................................................................................KYLE TAYLOR PARKER Brenda .............................................................................................................TRISTA DOLLISON John ....................................................................................................................BRYAN FENKART Paul ......................................................................................................... DOUGLAS GOODHART Ringo ..............................................................................................................................JEN PERRY George ................................................................................................................. CORY JEACOMA Ed Sullivan .................................................................................................................TRAVIS ARTZ Brian Epstein ........................................................................................................JOHN SANDERS Trip.......................................................................................................................... CONOR RYAN Fallon ....................................................................................................................JOHN SANDERS Pamela ..................................................................................................................... ERIKA OLSON Mary Quant ........................................................................................................... GEMMA BAIRD Bouncer........................................................................................DANIEL STEWART SHERMAN Betty ...............................................................................................................................JEN PERRY Vera ......................................................................................................................